Lesson 5: Syndrome X
This lesson covers the chronic diseases, collectively referred to as Syndrome X.
Introduction
Our modern diet, based on high-glycemic carbohydrates, is implicated in many chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated blood uric acid levels, elevated blood triglycerides, elevated small-dense LDL cholesterol, and reduced HDL cholesterol (the good kind). Besides displacing more nutritious natural foods which prevent chronic diseases, agricultural foods contain harmful toxins, promote insulin resistance, and contain excessive amounts of saturated fats and imbalanced ratios of poly-unsaturated fats, all of which promote chronic diseases.
A chronically high blood insulin level is thought to be the major contributor to all Syndrome X diseases. Our modern, high-carbohydrate diet promotes high blood insulin levels by excessively raising blood sugar and thus requiring the pancreas to secrete large amounts of insulin to clear the sugar from the bloodstream. It is thought that a diet containing combinations of high-fat foods and high-glycemic carbohydrates promotes insulin resistance, the inability of insulin to adequately normalize blood sugar. The paleo diet does not contain such combinations.
